Improve Your Construction Firm’s Efficiency With These 5 Steps
Your efficiency is the baseline of your firm’s success. Don’t let delays and wasted resources affect your bottom line - follow these 5 steps to boost your efficiency.
The efficiency of your construction firm’s processes is perhaps its most important quality. The more you and your crew can accomplish, in the best timeline, and with the least possible wasted resources, the better your profit margins will be.
Failing to prioritize efficiency can have disastrous results - remember Boston’s “Big Dig” highway project that took nine years longer than expected, at ten times the estimated budget?
You can’t afford to make the same mistakes - follow these five steps to make your next project more efficient:
Invest In The Right Technology
Despite being so crucial to a firm's efficiency, one challenge that is often overlooked is IT. Specifically, the ongoing maintenance of software lifecycles.
If your legacy software is working so poorly that it stops you and your crew from working, then it’s time to replace it. The downtime caused by old technology isn’t worth the money you’re saving by hanging on to it.
The right construction management software can equip you and your crew with a range of convenient capabilities, allowing you to automate billing, invoicing and other tedious time-consuming tasks. You can also integrate your software with a cloud platform to gain even more benefits and reduce capital expenditures in your IT budget.
Collect And Make Use of Staff Feedback
Your crew members that are in the field all day can deliver an extensive amount of valuable data if you're actually willing to listen to them. Make sure to consult your staff on how sites can be better organized, and how processes can be optimized or modified to make them more successful in practice.
Invest In Your Staff
The people working in your firm are your most valuable resource - are you investing in them?
Arranging for leadership and project management training for your managers will only help to make them better at their jobs. That’s an investment that goes right back into your business and helps to improve your efficiency.
Enhance Your Communication Capabilities
Mobile devices have made it easier and easier to get work done while on the go. Laptops, tablets, and smartphones are a simple way to share and review data, stay in touch with employees, and more while on the road. As you well know, a lot of your firm’s work is on the road and at job sites, after all.
You don’t even necessarily need to invest in new hardware - implement Mobile Device Management and Bring Your Own Device policies that allow employees to use their own devices in combination with the organization’s – be sure to equally prioritize the convenience of access with security.
Track And Improve Performance
Incentivize your crew by tracking their performance and rewarding improvement under any crucial key performance indicators (KPIs). No matter how much you invest in new tools and technology, it won’t amount to much if your staff has started coasting - give them a reason to continue improving their performance.
Every firm encounters challenges with its efficiency. The reality is that the battle is never really won - you can always do better. The important thing is to make sure you're always improving.
